A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Justice is not entitled to obtain the names and personal contact details of everyone who worked on the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia.
In April, the Justice Department issued a grand jury subpoena requesting the names and personal contact information of county employees and volunteer poll workers. President Donald Trump has repeatedly made unsupported claims that widespread voter fraud in Fulton County, Georgia’s most populous county and a Democratic stronghold, caused him to lose the state in the 2020 election.
Fulton County moved to block the subpoena, arguing in court that it was intended to “target, harass and punish the President’s perceived political opponents” and that the request was “grossly over broad and untethered to any reasonable need.”
U.S. District Judge William Ray agreed, writing that the subpoena was unreasonable given the limited need for the information and the significant burden that disclosure would impose. He described the breadth of the government’s request as “staggering.”
Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robb Pitts welcomed the decision.
“Fulton County will continue to do all that is needed to assure Georgia citizens that our election process is fair and proper and to show that the attacks against it are baseless,” Pitts said in an emailed statement.
The Justice Department was contacted by email for comment.
Ray, who was nominated to the federal bench by Trump, noted that while grand juries frequently assist federal prosecutors in criminal investigations, that authority has limits. “That does not give the DOJ the right to use the Grand Jury to do whatever the DOJ wants,” he wrote.
Even if the records sought by the Justice Department could help find people who worked for the county during the 2020 election who support the theory that the election was unfair, the information couldn’t be used to charge anyone because the statute of limitations has passed, Ray wrote.
The subpoena came after the FBI in January served a search warrant at the Fulton County election hub and seized hundreds of boxes of ballots and other documents from the 2020 election. A federal judge in May denied the county’s request to force the federal government to return the ballots.
The Justice Department argued in a court filing that the subpoena was the “next step in the normal investigative process” and that it seeks “records identifying persons with relevant knowledge.”
Kamal Ghali, a lawyer for the county, argued that the subpoena “will chill participation by election workers” and that the statute of limitations for any of the alleged misconduct had already lapsed.
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Justice Department lawyer William McComb argued the statute of limitations issue is not relevant at the investigative stage.
“My point is, as we sit here now, we are not sure what charges can be brought. That’s the whole point of the investigation,” he said.
The judge noted that the Justice Department had expressed concern about possible criminal actions in the years that followed the election, including an alleged failure by the county to preserve electronic ballot images. But he pointed out that the subpoena seeks information related to what happened during the 2020 election and its immediate aftermath.
“In these hyper-political times in which we currently live, there are sure to be some who disagree with this decision because they believe the allegations of fraud in the 2020 Election and believe that ‘light’ should be brought to those claims,” Ray wrote.
He added that nothing prevents continued investigation into those allegations by people who believe those claims — such as Congress or even the Justice Department — but the power of the grand jury, “which exists to investigate potential crimes and to bring viable indictments” cannot be used for that purpose. Otherwise, anyone in power could use the grand jury process to subpoena personal information of citizens “with no legitimate law enforcement purpose,” he wrote.
“Thus, everyone, whether you support the President or you do not, or whether you believe the 2020 Election was fair or believe that it was not, should be concerned about the DOJ’s ability to utilize the power of the Grand Jury to appropriate your private information without a legitimate purpose,” Ray wrote.
The judge also agreed that providing the subpoenaed information could make it harder for Fulton County to recruit election workers. Those who help run elections “should be valued and are necessary for successful elections in Fulton County going forward,” he wrote.
